Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 1: The Coming of the Avengers by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Don Heck: Review
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 1: The Coming of the Avengers by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Don Heck: Review
Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 1: The Coming of the Avengers by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Don Heck: Review
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Tintin in The Secret of the Unicorn by Herge: Review
I had some technical problems in the filming of this review. I got about 2 minutes into the review, and my camera suddenly shut off. (I don't know why). So I just decided to start filming a new video file, and figured I'd edit them together later. But then, when I tried to transfer the files to my computer, the first video wasn't there. So then I tried to re-film the first 2 minutes of this review. Only by that point, I couldn't remember what I had said in the first 2 minutes. So I just tried to guess what I probably said in the first 2 minutes. Apologies for the rough beginning, and if any of the points got dropped.
Monday, August 29, 2022
Sunday, August 28, 2022
Weekly Reading Vlog #75: The Wayfarer Redemption p.382-392, Diary of a Wimpy Kid p.1-217, Animorphs
Books (403 pages this week)
The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass p.382-392 (10)
Animorphs 1: The Invasion by K.A. Applegate p.1-176 (176)
Podcasts and Audiobooks: (Not mentioned in the video)
Revolutions Season 3: The French Revolution 3rd Listening From: 3.41- Bread and the Constitution of 1793 To: 3.43- The Conspiracy of Equals (from Revolutions Podcast)
My tour of Vivo City: https://youtu.be/lbi80QmRXwM
Videos from this week:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney: Book Review https://youtu.be/VTI7RdFiqnc
For more information about what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE.
Saturday, August 27, 2022
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney: Book Review
Started: August 23, 2022
Finished: August 24, 2022
(This review is written using my new format for book reviews.)
My History With This Book
As regular readers of this blog know, I've been living in Vietnam for the past several years now. And these books have been extremely popular in Vietnam.
I suspect their popular everywhere. (Right? I don't know, leave a comment and let me know about how often you see these books around where you live.)
But in Vietnam, they've been everywhere.
It's probably more noticeable in Vietnam, because whenever you walk into a bookshop, the supply of English books is limited to only a few shelves. And Diary of a Wimpy Kid is always among the limited selection.
The very visual nature of this book makes it tempting for Vietnamese students of English, who think that it will be an easy read. (Although the amount of slang and colloquial expressions in this book make it a lot harder than it looks for English language learners.) So I frequently see my Vietnamese students and colleagues attempting to read this book.
But this book has also been translated into Vietnamese, and it has proven to be extremely popular in Vietnam in translation. (I think 5 years ago in Vietnam, it was especially popular. I remember a period when all of my students seemed to be carrying around the Vietnamese translation of this book.)
And since I've noticed that this book was so popular in Vietnam anyway, I've occasionally recommended it to my students for extensive reading or extensive listening practice. Especially since a free copy of this book was put on English Language Learning : Listen & Read (see HERE). I put this book on my list of extensive reading recommendations, and my list of extensive listening recommendations.
To quote myself from my extensive listening recommendation:
...and there were a lot of sections like this.
Another audio book from http://esl-bits.net/ Diary of a Wimpy Kid. http://esl-bits.net/ESL.English.Learning.Audiobooks/Wimpy.Kid/indice.html This is another children's book. This one is pitched at slightly older kids (10-11). The vocabulary is slightly more advanced, and it also contains more slang terms and idioms. But on the plus side, each individual chapter is very short, so it's very easy to do this in short listening sessions. And in my experience, this book has been popular with students in Vietnam.
And yet, I had never actually read the book myself. Until now...
Why I Read This Book
As I've been mentioning in the Weekly Reading Vlogs, my schedule at work has recently changed so that I now have an early morning class, and an afternoon class, and an extended lunch break in the afternoon. I usually relax at lunch and get a few pages of reading done, but then one day I forgot my book. (I had taken it out of my work bag to read some of it at dinner, and then forgotten to put it back in my bag.)
Fortunately, my school has a library, so it was easy to pick up a new book.
However, I already have 9 books on my currently reading list that I'm not doing very well on (HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE). And I had told myself I was absolutely not allowed to pick up any new books until I finished what was already on my plate. But what was I going to do? Make it through lunch without a book to read?
So, I compromised and decided to find the lightest, shortest, easiest to read book possible.
And Diary of a Wimpy Kid seemed to fit the bill perfectly.
And Diary of a Wimpy Kid seemed to fit the bill perfectly.
The Reading Experience / Evaluation
I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did.
I mean, sure, I knew it would be humorous. But it is also a kids' book. And kids are usually pretty soft targets when it comes to humor. So I figured the book would be mildly interesting, but not much more.
But, to my pleasant surprise, I got quite a few chuckles out of this book. It's really funny.
After reading this book, I went over to the Wikipedia page, and it turns out this book grew out of a webcomic, and that originally the book was supposed to be pitched at an adult audience. But the publishers convinced the author to target the children's market instead. (see HERE)
So that probably explains why this book can tickle the adult funny bone just as much as it can a child's.
There's no real plot to this book--it's just a series of episodes and events. (I suspect this is also a legacy of the book having started life as a webcomic.) There are occasionally call backs to events that happened earlier in the book, but for the most part it's just a bunch of random things that happened to the main character over the course of a school year.
In my opinion, the book is at its funniest when its simply functioning as a commentary on the kind of stuff that every middle school kid experiences. The part about the difference between dad and mom's discipline style, for example, was one of many sections that got a chuckle out of me because of how relatable it was:
(Oh man, my parents were totally like that! Anyone else can relate?)
There were some other sections, however, which weren't so realistic. For example, the whole section about the haunted house episode (you can read it here) struck me as pretty far fetched. I understand the humor was supposed to derive from the main character screwing things up so badly, but I couldn't imagine a real kid actually doing this, and it struck me as a bit too desperate to set up a get a laugh. And there are a few sections like that throughout the book.
So some really funny sections, and some not so funny sections, but on the whole I found myself laughing and enjoying this book more often than not.
Other Odds and Ends
* I debated whether or not to count his as a graphic novel, or as a proper book.
The distinction, as far as this blog is concerned, is that graphic novels get a video review, but no written review.
This book has so many cartoons throughout that it's almost really more of a comic than a proper book. And yet, there is some text. Maybe just enough text to count this as a book with cartoons instead of a cartoon book?
My school library has this book classified in the general fiction section, and not the graphic novel section. In the end, I let that tip the balance. I'm counting this as a book. (But... I'll also put it in my graphic novel index.)
* As you probably already know, there's a whole series of these books out now (see list on Wikipedia). My school library has several of them. I may check out a few more books from this series eventually. But I don't want to ruin it by doing it all at once. (Sometimes the humor of a particular author or cartoonist can get spoiled if you indulge too much too quickly). Maybe I'll give it a few weeks before checking out the next one.
As I mentioned above, sometimes it can be really funny and relatable, and sometimes it loses its touch by getting a bit too far-fetched. But it's really funny more often than not. Let's go with 8 out of 10 stars. (Look, it's not great literature. But you have to judge these things against what they set out to do. This book set out to be a funny comic. It was pretty funny. 8 stars it is.)
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Q: Skills for Success: Reading and Writing 4: Unit 3 Reading 1: The Good Teen p.65-70
(Supplementary Materials for Specific Textbooks--Q: Skills for Success: Reading and Writing 4)
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Directions: Tell students to close their books. Put them in pairs. Give each pair a copy of pages 1-2. Instruct them that there is one sentence missing from each paragraph. They have to read the paragraph and use the cohesion clues to tell where sentences are probably missing. They mark the spot in the paragraph where they think the sentence is missing.
Then, give each pair a copy of sheet 3. Instruct them that the full text is posted outside the room (p.4-5). They have to go outside of the room, look at the full paragraphs, and find the missing sentence, and then write it down on their answer sheet. Standard running dictation rules apply (i.e. one student can run outside to look at the text, but they can't write anything. They have to memorize the sentence, and run back and dictate it to their partner). The first pair to write down all 9 missing sentences is the winner.
Running Dictation for Grammar and Reading Texts
Running dictation is a game that is usually used for grammar points. (And in fact, I've included it before in my list of Activities That Can Be Used for Any Grammar Point). But it can also be used for Reading Texts.
First of all, I should probably review the basics of running dictation before I describe how it can be used with reading texts.
In running dictation, the students are put into pairs. The teachers places a sheet with some English sentences either at the front of the room, or outside of the room. (I usually prefer to place it outside the classroom in the hallway somewhere, but it all depends on the size of your classroom, how much freedom you have to use the outside hallways, and how much you trust your students to be relatively well-behaved in the school hallways). One student can run and look at the sentences, but they can't write down anything. They must memorize as much as they can, and then run back and dictate the sentences to their partner. Their partner, by contrast, is allowed to write, but cannot leave their seat to look at the sentences themselves. They must simply listen to their partner, and write down what their partner dictates. (In my experience, constant vigilance is required to ensure that the rules are actually followed.) The "runner" holds as much of the text in their memory as they can, runs back and tells their partner what they can remember, and then has to run back to the text to look again and memorize the next section.
The game continues until one pair has successfully reconstructed all the sentences.
This game is popular in ESL classrooms because it's a good way to wake the students up and get them active. (Or, alternatively, with some classes it's a good way to utilize any restless energy that the students may have.) But it also supposedly has a pedagogical purpose. Because the students are forced to hold the sentences in their memory while they run back and forth, supposedly their is a greater chance that the target grammar structure will get imprinted in their brains and go from input to intake.
See an example of a grammar running dictation here.
With reading texts, there is no target grammar structure. But running dictation can still be used as a way to focus attention on the text. This can be useful for classes in which the students are not actually motivated to do the reading, and some external motivation is required to get the students to focus on the reading (e.g. teenagers who are in an English class because they are required to be there, and not because they want to be there.)
Of course, for a longer reading text, the students can't be expected to recreate the whole text. But you can delete 5-10 sentences from a text, and have the students do running dictation for the missing sentences.
For an example of this, see this worksheet here.
I've also been experimenting with more complicated running dictations for reading.
One activity I've used is that I delete a sentence from each paragraph, but I don't tell students which sentence has been deleted. Students are then encouraged to read the paragraph closely, and find the spot where their is a coherence problem in the paragraph--that is, find where two sentences do not connect to each other, and there must be a missing sentence. The full text is posted outside the classroom, and one student can run outside the classroom to look at it, and compare the full version with the version that they were given. However, as the students can take nothing outside the room with them, this all must be done by memory.
For an example of that version, see this worksheet here.
Directions: Tell students to close their books. Put them in pairs. Give each pair a copy of pages 1-2. Instruct them that there is one sentence missing from each paragraph. They have to read the paragraph and use the cohesion clues to tell where sentences are probably missing. They mark the spot in the paragraph where they think the sentence is missing.Then, give each pair a copy of sheet 3. Instruct them that the full text is posted outside the room (p.4-5). They have to go outside of the room, look at the full paragraphs, and find the missing sentence, and then write it down on their answer sheet. Standard running dictation rules apply (i.e. one student can run outside to look at the text, but they can't write anything. They have to memorize the sentence, and run back and dictate it to their partner). The first pair to write down all 9 missing sentences is the winner.
Another example of Running Dictation comes from a website I linked to previously: 21 Must-Use Reading Activities For Your Language Lessons: Fun Pre-Reading and Post-Reading Activities for All Language Classrooms. In that version, it looks like each group is responsible for reconstructing one paragraph from the reading:
This works better with shorter texts or splitting a whole text into paragraphs, which each team is responsible for. Put enough copies of the texts up outside the classroom with a number on each. Assign each team a number. Advise the aim is for students to be the first team to communicate the text from their corresponding paragraph outside the classroom, without cheating. Students must take it in turns to read a sentence in sequence from their paragraph, and be the first team to finish communicating and writing the paragraph down on a sheet of paper.
See the full description at number 14 on the website HERE.
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Grab the Card Game
This is an activity I use all the time (if you look through my materials, many of my lessons include a "grab the card" stage). But I've just realized that I never made a blog post explaining it. So here it finally is.
This game was also extremely popular in the classrooms when I lived in Japan. (The Japanese call it "karuta".)
It's the perfect game to practice any vocabulary set.
Basically, cards are created in which there is one vocabulary word on each card. (And of course, when I say "card", I mean just paper that is cut out into small card-sized pieces.)
For lower level students, the card will often just be a picture--example here. The teacher will say the word, and the students will grab the picture card that corresponds to that word.
For higher level students, the card will usually be a word--example here. The teacher will define or describe the word, and the students will grab the word card that matches the definition.
In Japan, this game was usually played as a competition. Students were put in pairs, and each pair was given one set of cards. (For younger students, this usually involved the pairs sitting on the floor with the cards between them. For teenage students, they put the cards on their desk). The teacher would say the word (or describe the word), and the students would try to grab the card before their partner could. If a student successfully grabbed the correct card before their opponent, then they got to keep that card. At the end of the game, the student with the most cards was the winner.
The Japanese had some additional rules--to prevent students from just grabbing all the cards at random, there was a rule that if you grabbed the wrong card, there was a penalty. (The penalty was usually either having to give back one of the cards you had previously won, or having to lose a turn.) Also, sometimes it was necessary to make a rule that the hands had to start out behind the back or on the head. (This was to prevent students from starting out with their hands hoovering directly above the cards in a way which blocked their opponent's access.)
Since I've left Japan, I've played this game in countries which are less familiar with this game. So to get across the concept, I frequently start out playing it as an all class game. The class is divided into two teams. One representative from each team comes to the front of the room, where the cards are all laid out on a table. They compete against each other to grab the correct card, and the winner gets one point. I keep the score on the whiteboard. After the first pair finishes, they go back to their seats, and we get one more representative to come up from each team until we have cycled through either all the cards or all the students.
For classes in which the students need a bit of waking up, I occasionally adjust this to "run and grab the card". In this case, the students start out at the other side of the room. When I describe the card, they have to run across the room to grab the card before their partner.
Once we've played one round as a whole class, I then transition from a whole class game to a small group game--that is, each group then gets a set of cards, and we play again in smaller groups. For teenagers and adults, I'll put them in groups of 3 or 4, but then nominate one of them to describe the cards instead of me. One member of the group will describe the cards, and the other members compete to grab the cards. Then, we change the person who describes the cards. Usually the winner of the previous game becomes the person who describes the cards for their group in the next game.
Addendum--Grab the Card for Grammar Points
This game also works for some grammar points. In fact a few years ago, I included it in my Activities That Can Be Used for Any Grammar Point workshop. Below is the description of this game
Grab the Card (Karuta) (Materials: One set of cards for each group of students, and a list of prompts written down for the teacher ) (Preparation: Make up a list of prompts and matching cards. Cut up and shuffle cards. 25 minutes)
The students are put into small groups, and given a list of cards with the target language (which they spread out among themselves). The teacher reads prompts, and the students try to grab the card matching the prompt. Whichever student grabs the card first gets to keep that card. At the end, the student with the most cards is the winner. (You may have to introduce penalties for students who grab wrong cards--e.g. lose one point, miss a turn, et cetera).
This game works when you have two complementary sentences (e.g. active/passive) or a sentence that divides neatly into two halves (e.g. if… then…), but it can also work with simple sentences if the prompts are situational--i.e. the teacher reads a situation, and then the students grab the sentence that matches the situation.
Example of a grammar version of this game is here: Modal Verb Karuta
Sunday, August 21, 2022
Weekly Reading Vlog #74: The Wayfarer Redemption p.320-382, Teaching Reading by Christine Nuttall
Books (64 pages this week)
The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass p.320-382 (62)
Podcasts and Audiobooks: (Not mentioned in the video)
Revolutions Season 3: The French Revolution 3rd Listening From: 3.40- The Frozen Rivers To: 3.41- Bread and the Constitution of 1793 (from Revolutions Podcast)
Videos from this week:
The Jungle Book (1967): Movie Review (Thoughts after Re-Watching) https://youtu.be/yNT0bijKRJk
Tintin in Land of Black Gold by Herge: Review https://youtu.be/egBLOMZ0G6U
For more information about what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE.
Board Race
(TESOL Ideas--Any Grammar Point, Any Vocabulary Set)
I've included descriptions of Board Races in my Activities That Can Be Used for Any Grammar Point post. However, I thought I should also highlight it in its own separate post given how often I use it in my materials. (Even though I had included it in my activities for any grammar point post, I quite often use it for vocabulary sets as well.)
To quote myself from the post on Activities That Can Be Used for Any Grammar Point:
Materials: Whiteboard. Markers. Possibly a PowerPoint presentation to create the prompts
Preparation: 0 prep if the teacher creates the prompts on the spot and yells them out orally. 10 minutes if you create a PowerPoint presentation in advance
The students are put into 4 teams. The teacher gives the students prompts (either visually, or written, or oral). And the students race to the whiteboard to write the correct sentence. The first team to write the correct sentence gets 4 points, the next student gets 3 points, etc.
Variations:
Mini-whiteboard Race
Teams are given mini-whiteboards, and the first team to write the sentence on their mini-whiteboard (and hold it up so the teacher can see it) gets 4 points, followed by 3 points, etc. Obviously this game works best with mini-whiteboards, but in a pinch, other material can work--e.g. students can write the answers in their notebook, on blank paper, on the floor, etc.)
Mini-whiteboard Race 5 Star Line-up
A mini-whiteboard race (as above) but with a twist. The teacher writes numbers on the floor from 1-5. After the student writes their answer on the board, they then run to the number. The first student to get to 5 gets 5 points. The student to get to 4 first gets 4 points.
The students must write their answer on the whiteboard first in their group before running to the numbers. Only one student from each group takes the whiteboard to run.
For an example of this being used for a grammar point, see these prompts for the Present Perfect:
For an example of it being used for vocabulary sets, see this lesson here:
(The above prompts are sentence gapfills for a vocabulary set. But with vocabulary sets, you can also use definitions, or pictures for the prompts.)
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Friday, August 19, 2022
Movie worksheets: http://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-jungle-book-movie-worksheets-for_18.html
My review of the 2016 re-make: http://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-jungle-book-2016.html
This is part of my "Thoughts after Re-Watching" movie review project, as explained about HERE.
Playlist HERE :
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Q: Skills for Success: Reading and Writing 4: Unit 2 Reading 1: So Much Dead Space p.35-41
(Supplementary Materials for Specific Textbooks--Q: Skills for Success: Reading and Writing 4)
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Lead-in: Youtube video: Let's window shop at Grand Rapids Ohio on a fall day
Quizlet: Unit 2: Reading 1 So Much Dead Space
Quizlet: Unit 2: Reading 1 So Much Dead Space
This website became very popular at my school during the Covid-19 shutdown. Teachers liked it because it was very easy to create word matching games on, and then very easy to share with the students once these games were created.
Unlike websites like Kahoot or Quizlet Live, students didn't need to enter any sort of game code, they just got the linke (or scanned the QR code) and they were good to go.
I have to confess I was never a huge fan of Wordwall for the reason that it was difficult for me as a teacher to verify that the students were actually playing the game. (Or at least, it was difficult for me to verify in an online class. Now that we're back face-to-face, I can just look over their shoulder and check.) There is an option for students to write their name on the top scorer section, but it's optional, and in order for me to check it while the students are playing, I need to keep refreshing the page.
Nevertheless, a lot of the supplemental material that my colleagues are creating these days is on Wordwall, so I thought I should share the website here.
Sunday, August 14, 2022
Weekly Reading Vlog #73: The Wayfarer Redemption p.270-320, Teaching Reading by Christine Nuttall
Books (56 pages this week)
The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass p.270-320 (50)
Podcasts and Audiobooks: (Not mentioned in the video)
Revolutions Season 3: The French Revolution 3rd Listening From: Help Scott Help Syria To: 3.40- The Frozen Rivers (from Revolutions Podcast)
For more information about what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE.
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Q: Skills for Success: Reading and Writing 4: Unit 1 Reading 1: We All Need a Role Model p.5-11
(Supplementary Materials for Specific Textbooks--Q: Skills for Success: Reading and Writing 4)
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Directions: divide students into 4 groups corresponding to the 4 sections of the text: Definition of a Role Model, Who Can Be a Role Model, What Role Modes Do, and When things go Wrong. Each person in the group gets a copy of their section. They read it, and discuss together what the main ideas are, and take notes. Then, take the readings away from the students. Students are recombined in separate groups, in which there is one person from each of the previous groups. They have to talk together and reconstruct the main ideas from the text (taking notes on pages 3 and 4). Then, using those notes, students attempt to answer the questions on page 5 (which corresponds to exercise F)
Sunday, August 07, 2022
Weekly Reading Vlog #72: The Wayfarer Redemption p.234-270, Teaching Reading by Christine Nuttall
Books (40 pages this week)
The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass p.234-270 (36)
Podcasts and Audiobooks: (Not mentioned in the video)
Revolutions Season 3: The French Revolution 3rd Listening From: 3.37- The Republic of Virtue To: Help Scott Help Syria (from Revolutions Podcast)
Also, now that I've finished The Iliad, I've been reviewing it on Audiobook HERE.
Videos from this week:
Walt Disney's Donald Duck "Balloonatics": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 25: Review https://youtu.be/rPzjYfeDOnc
Tintin in The Seven Crystal Balls by Herge: Review https://youtu.be/dvMpkk-0XT8
For more information about what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE.
Wednesday, August 03, 2022
Thank you for saying this. I also struggle. It can take me ages to write a review.
— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) August 4, 2022
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